Pulcini (Campos Racing) takes revenge on Aitken (RP Motorsport) in Race 2

Italy´s driver achieved his second win of the season in a thrilling last lap battle by beating Aitken. Habsburg (Drivex) took third place on the podium and claimed another rookies´ trophy win.

As ever Spa-Francorchamps brought changeable weather with rain and it produced another exciting race in the Euroformula Open. The series saw some defining moments during Race 2 in the Belgian Ardennes. Leonardo Pulcini (Campos Racing) and Jack Aitken (RP Motorsport) proved to be particularly strong at Spa-Francorchamps but there are several names on the verge of glory. Pulcini strengthened Euroformula Open lead today but there are a huge number of battles to fight in the title race with six rounds left on the calendar.

Aitken captured pole position in the morning ahead of Pulcini, who was four tenths off Briton´s time. Behind, an impressive Julio Moreno (Campos Racing) took 3rd spot, which marked his best qualifying result in the series so far, head of Ferdinand Habsburg (Drivex). The duo of RP Motorsport, Damiano Fioravanti and Kantadhee Kusiri, qualified fifth and sixth.

Race control declared a wet race and drivers chose to start on rain tires. In fact, the track was wet but it wasn´t raining, so some areas were slightly drying.

At the start, Aitken wasn´t able to fend off his lead and first Pulcini and shortly after Habsburg passed him. Tanart Sathienthirakul (RP Motorsport) moved up to fourth and Ecuador´s Moreno dropped to fifth… still in the first lap! Diego Menchaca (Campos Racing) was running in 6th place after making progress on the opening lap.

Pulcini and Habsburg were making a gap from Aitken but his counter-attack came on the third lap when the latter retook second place. By then, drivers were forced to master tire wear management. In such circumstances, Pulcini and Aitken pulled away, as Habsburg couldn´t equal his pace. Behind, Menchaca, Sathienthirakul, who lost his fourth place after spinning, and Colton Herta (Carlin).

With five laps to go, with rain falling on Kemmel again, Pulcini had the situation under control with his strong second sector. But Aitken still made a final attempt to catch him and almost succeeded. Finally, after 13 laps, Pulcini claimed win but just one second clear of Aitken. Habsburg came third and Menchaca took fourth place. Herta, putting in another shining drive despite his extremely young age, finished fifth. Sathienthirakul brought sixth place home ahead of Moreno. Tatiana Calderón (Teo Martín Motorsport), Igor Walilko (Fortec Motorsports) and Damiano Fioravanti (RP Motorsport) rounded off the top-ten.

Habsburg, Herta and Ameya Vaidyanathan (Carlin) stepped into rookies´ class podium.

The Euroformula Open will head to Paul Ricard in two weeks´ time.

 

Race 2

1^st, No. 8, Leonardo Pulcini^, ITA, Campos Racing, Dallara F312, 13 laps, 33:30.444

2^nd, No. 4, Jack Aitken, GBR^, RP Motorsport, Dallara F312, Gap: 1.383

3^rd, No. 62, Ferdinand Habsburg*^, AUT, Drivex School, Dallara F312, Gap: 18.167

4^th, No. 7, Diego Menchaca^, MEX, Campos Racing, Dallara F312, Gap: 21.680

5^th, No. 98, Colton Herta*, USA, Carlin, Dallara F312, Gap: 25.168

6^th, No. 5, Tanart Sathienthirakul^, THA, RP Motorsport, Dallara F312, Gap: 26.664

7^th, No. 6, Julio Moreno^, ECU, Campos Racing, Dallara F312, Gap: 33.271

8^th, No. 10, Tatiana Calderon, COL, Teo Martin Motorsport, Dallara F312, Gap: 34.254

9^th, No. 37, Igor Walilko^, POL, Fortec Motorsports, Dallara F312, Gap: 37.238

10^th, No. 3, Damiano Fioravanti^, ITA, RP Motorsport, Dallara F312, Gap: 43.424

11^th, No. 27, Kang Ling, CHN, DAV Racing, Dallara F312, Gap: 46.197

12^th, No. 51, Ameya Vaidyanathan*, IND, Carlin, Dallara F312, Gap: 51.950

13^th, No. 1, Antoni Ptak^, POL, RP Motorsport, Dallara F312, Gap: 57.219

14^th, No. 18, Daniele Cazzaniga*, ITA, DAV Racing, Dallara F312, Gap: 58.037

15^th, No. 2, Kantadhee Kusiri^, THA, RP Motorsport, Dallara F312, Gap: 58.487

16^th, No. 11, Petru Florescu*, ROU, Teo Martin Motorsport, Dallara F312, Gap: 1:06.914

17^th, No. 9, Gulhuseyn Abdullayev*^, AZE, Campos Racing, Dallara F312, Gap: 1:24.558

18^th, No. 15, Alex Liang*, Team West-Tec, Dallara F312, Gap: 1:28.974

19^th, No. 65, Enaam Ahmed*, GBR, DAV Racing, Dallara F312, Gap: 1:36.245

20^th, No. 20, Danil Pronenko*^, RUS, BVM Racing, Dallara F312, Gap: 1:37.462

21^st, No. 47, Keyvan Andres*, GER, Carlin, Dallara F312, Gap: 2 laps

 

Not Classified

No. 14, Jose Manuel Vilalta, MEX, Teo Martin Motorsport, Dallara F312, Lap 2

 

Fastest Lap

No. 7, Diego Menchaca^, MEX, Campos Racing, Dallara F312, Lap 3, 2:29.003, 169:093 kph

 

^ Spanish Formula 3

• Rookie